Is it common for teeth to chip with braces?

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#1 Post by **maddiesmom** » Thu Jun 30, 2005 8:20 pm

I've had braces for 5+ months now and just yesterday noticed my front big tooth has a chip in the bottom of it. Ironically this is the only 1 of the 4 front teeth that have NOT been bonded. What's up? I'm so bummed that I'll no doubt have to have it bonded (like the others) when treatment is finished.

Is it common for this to happen during treatment? Could it have been avoided at all? I just don't want it to happen again with other teeth.

#2 Post by **Julia** » Fri Jul 01, 2005 5:23 am

Do you have ceramic brackets on the bottom? If so, this is probably the culprit and very common as the ceramic is harder than enamel. I'm sorry to hear this happened!

#3 Post by **fyrelight** » Fri Jul 01, 2005 6:07 am

Hmm, none of mine chipped at all either time with braces, but I'm not sure I've ever had a tooth chip, so I might not be a good judge.

Julia is right... biting down on brackets can cause a problem.

#4 Post by **fins** » Sun Jul 03, 2005 6:53 am

I never had a tooth chip with full metal upper and lower. I do know that as your teeth move they may bump into each other (mine do because of a changing bite) and I have to be careful to chew slowly and watch it cause I've knocked a few teeth together when chewing. This time I'm using ceramic on the uppers and metal on lowers. I tend to eat softer foods nowadays, can't even think about eating steak since my bite is so strange.

#5 Post by SW » Sun Jul 03, 2005 11:23 am

If you grind your teeth while you sleep, (like I do) then that could be the problem. I even resorted to putting wax on my teeth at night (as detailed in earlier posts) to try to avoid developing further wear. It has helped somewhat, but has not been 100% successful. My front tooth has definitely been damaged since getting braces, but my teeth were already being damaged before them too, so I just have to live with it.

#6 Post by **fins** » Sun Jul 03, 2005 4:25 pm

SW- Your ortho can most likely give you a mouthguard to wear at night if you grind your teeth. I will probably get one cause I grind when my teeth hurt

#7 Post by SW » Sun Jul 03, 2005 5:03 pm

fins wrote:SW- Your ortho can most likely give you a mouthguard to wear at night if you grind your teeth. I will probably get one cause I grind when my teeth hurt

I asked about getting a mouthguard with braces and was told that it wouldn't be possible, so I'm stuck. My problem with teeth grinding has been going on for many years, so at this point, it's kind of a lost cause for me as far as I'm concerned.

#8 Post by **lilleth** » Thu Sep 29, 2005 7:31 pm

I have been grinding and wearing teeth for years too. 2nd time in braces and this time it's not because they are crooked but because my deep bite and grinding were causing wear.

well, ortho promised I could have ceramics on bottom (even though 4 other orthos I saw warned against that) and while I had only the top brackets on and could wear a bottom retainer at night, no problems. but I've had ceramics on bottom for 2 weeks (or is it 3) and I think I am wearing them again.

I'm wondering if I should ask to replace the front bottom brackets with metal.

#9 Post by **spragers** » Thu Sep 29, 2005 9:47 pm

I've had one small tooth chip for as long as I can remember. *so far* I haven't chipped anything because of my braces. Maybe some people's teeth are just physiologically more prone to chipping?

#10 Post by **erica** » Fri Sep 30, 2005 9:57 am

Ug, I've also been chipping my teeth like crazy since my braces went on about a year ago. I have ceramic uppers and metal lowers, with a mild overbite. The worst chips happened when I first got my braces and was learning to close my mouth with all that stuff in there, but I've started getting more recent chips now that I have elastics and my overbite is improving (bringing my upper teeth that much closer to those darn lower brackets). It's not that I grind my teeth - I always know it when I end up with a new chip (it hears and feels terrible!). My ortho didn't have any suggestions aside from lots of bonding when I've completed treatment. His original plan had been to file some of the mildly chipped teeth at about six months, but he threw that idea out the door when he realized they'd just chip again!

Maddiesmom, how awful is bonding and how well does it hold up? I'm bummed that when this braces ordeal is done, my teeth will still look bad thanks to the chips. And I'm not looking forward to paying even MORE money.

Cheers,
Erica

#11 Post by **maddiesmom** » Fri Oct 14, 2005 6:17 pm

Hi Erica,
Sorry for the delayed response...

Bonding isn't too bad. I had a space between my front two big teeth bonded back in high school and it finally chipped/fell apart last year (lasting 15 years or so which is pretty good!) and I had it replaced. The only problem I have with bonding is that, obviously, it's not your 'real' teeth and so staining can happen, especially if you drink coffee, soda, etc. etc. and if you try to whiten your teeth and you've had significant staining you can tell what teeth have been bonded because they're not as white. I guess it really depends on the kind of job your dentist does with the bonding; I had one dentist who completely screwed it up and it was completely obvious my tooth was bonded while another dentist bonded another tooth for me (to lengthen it) and it looked awesome.

I know how you feel, though... after going through months/years of braces it would be wonderful to get them off and have PERFECT teeth that you just need to whiten. I'm still hoping that will happen but I'm also trying to be realistic that a little bonding may need to be done just to finish the job.

Good luck to you!
Emily

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Is it common for teeth to chip with braces?

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